Learn
Every question type, one page each
1. Verbal Skills
60 questions · 16 min · about 16 seconds each
synonyms
HSPT synonym questions ask which of four words most nearly means the same as a given word. Learn the format, a 16-second method, and four worked examples.
antonyms
HSPT antonym questions ask which of four words means the opposite of a given word. Learn the format, a fast method, the common traps, and four worked examples.
analogies
HSPT analogy questions give a word pair and ask you to complete a second pair with the same relationship. Learn the format, the bridge-sentence method, and four worked examples.
verbal classification
HSPT verbal classification questions list four words and ask which one does not belong. Learn the format, a grouping method, the common traps, and four worked examples.
verbal logic
HSPT verbal logic questions give three statements and ask whether the third is true, false, or uncertain. Learn the format, an ordering method, and four worked examples.
2. Quantitative Skills
52 questions · 30 min · about 34.6 seconds each
number series
Number series questions on the HSPT Quantitative Skills section ask you to find the missing term in a pattern. Learn the four common patterns and a 35-second method.
geometric comparison
Geometric comparison questions on the HSPT show three figures and ask which statement about their shading, size, or angles is true. Learn a count-first method.
non-geometric comparison
Non-geometric comparison questions on the HSPT give three expressions and ask which relationship among them is true. Learn to evaluate fast and compare in order.
number manipulation
Number manipulation questions on the HSPT are short word problems like What number is 7 more than one third of 27. Learn to translate the words into arithmetic in order.
3. Reading
62 questions · 25 min · about 24.2 seconds each
reading comprehension
Reading comprehension items on the HSPT ask about a short passage's main idea, details, inferences, tone, and word meanings. Learn the format and a method for each.
vocabulary in context
Vocabulary-in-context items on the HSPT give you a short phrase with one target word and ask for its closest meaning. Learn the format, a fast method, and the common traps.
4. Mathematics
64 questions · 45 min · about 42.2 seconds each
arithmetic
Arithmetic questions on the HSPT Mathematics section test fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, and order of operations, and this page shows you how to solve them fast.
pre-algebra
Pre-algebra questions on the HSPT Mathematics section cover expressions, one- and two-step equations, integers, simple functions, and proportions, and this page shows you how to solve them.
basic geometry
Geometry questions on the HSPT Mathematics section cover perimeter, area, angles, the coordinate plane, and volume, and this page gives you the formulas and a method for solving them.
math problem solving
Problem-solving questions on the HSPT Mathematics section are multi-step word problems about money, rates, averages, percent change, and units, and this page shows a reliable way to solve them.
5. Language
60 questions · 25 min · about 25 seconds each
capitalization
Capitalization items on the HSPT Language section show three sentences and ask which one has an error. Learn the rules that get tested and a fast method for spotting them.
punctuation
Punctuation items on the HSPT Language section show three sentences and ask which one has an error. Learn the comma, apostrophe, quotation, and end-mark rules the test checks.
usage and grammar
Usage items on the HSPT Language section show three sentences and ask which one breaks a grammar rule. Learn agreement, pronoun, verb, and word-choice rules and how to spot errors fast.
spelling
Spelling items on the HSPT Language section show three sentences, one of which may contain a misspelled word. Learn the rules, the most-missed words, and how to check quickly.
composition
Composition items on the HSPT Language section ask you to choose the clearest sentence, the best topic sentence, the sentence that does not belong, or the right connecting word. Learn each type.
Skill lessons
The content behind the questions, with rules and worked examples
Mathematics
Fractions
Simplifying, comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions without a calculator, the way the HSPT Mathematics and Quantitative sections test them.
Percents
Converting among fractions, decimals, and percents, finding a percent of a number in your head, and handling discounts, increases, and the reversed of-what-number form.
Integers and order of operations
Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing negative numbers, absolute value, and the order of operations that the HSPT tests in arithmetic items and in Quantitative comparisons.
Decimals
Place value, comparing and rounding decimals, and the four operations without a calculator, including where the decimal point goes when you multiply and divide.
Ratios, rates, and proportions
Writing and simplifying ratios, finding unit rates, scaling recipes and maps, and solving proportions by cross-multiplying, which is how the HSPT tests these ideas in word problems.
Exponents, roots, and scientific notation
Squares and cubes to memorize, what an exponent does and does not do, square roots of perfect squares, powers of ten, and how to read a number written in scientific notation.
Factors, multiples, and primes
Divisibility rules, prime numbers, factoring, and the greatest common factor and least common multiple, the number facts the HSPT uses in arithmetic items and word problems about sharing and scheduling.
Measurement and units
The customary and metric conversions the HSPT expects you to know, elapsed time, money, and how to convert without a calculator by deciding whether the answer should get bigger or smaller.
Elementary algebra
Translating words into expressions, evaluating expressions, solving one-step and two-step equations and simple inequalities, and continuing patterns, kept at the pre-algebra level the HSPT actually tests.
Geometry
Angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, circles, composite shapes, volume, and surface area: the formulas and facts the HSPT tests, with the 3-4-5 triangle and the transversal shortcut.
Data and probability
Mean, median, mode, and range, reading a table or bar graph, and the simple probability the HSPT tests, including a mean problem worked backward to find a missing score.
The coordinate plane and slope
Ordered pairs, the four quadrants, slope as rise over run, and reading a line's equation from its graph, the one algebra topic on the HSPT that most 8th graders have not seen yet.
Functions, sets, and counting
Three short topics the HSPT added in recent years: spotting a function in a table, reading union and intersection off a Venn diagram, and counting outcomes by multiplying choices.
Reading graphs and tables
Pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, and grouped frequency tables, the four displays the HSPT uses, with the question shapes each one brings and the reading mistakes that cost points.
Properties of operations and number bases
Naming the commutative, associative, identity, and distributive properties, using them for mental math, and reading a number written in base 2, two small topics that each show up as one HSPT question.
Language
Subject-verb agreement
Making the verb match its subject when a phrase gets in the way, when subjects are joined by and, or, or nor, and when the subject is a word like each, everyone, or none.
Commas
The six comma rules the HSPT tests, the two places a comma never goes, and how to spot a comma splice in a sentence that sounds fine.
Capitalization
The capitalization rules the HSPT actually tests: proper nouns, titles before names, family words, directions versus regions, seasons, school subjects, and the first word of a quotation.
Apostrophes, quotation marks, and end marks
Possessives and contractions, its versus it's, plural possessives, where periods and commas go with quotation marks, and the end-of-sentence marks the HSPT checks.
Pronouns
Subject and object pronouns, the me-versus-I test, pronouns that must match their nouns in number, who versus whom, and the unclear pronoun the HSPT plants in composition items.
Verb tense and form
The irregular past tenses and past participles the HSPT tests, when to use have with a participle, keeping tense consistent, and the confusable pairs lie and lay, sit and set, rise and raise.
Modifiers and comparisons
Adjectives versus adverbs, good and well, fewer and less, comparative and superlative forms, double negatives, and the misplaced modifier the HSPT hides in composition items.
Sentence structure
Fragments, run-ons, and comma splices, how to join two ideas correctly, parallel structure in lists and pairs, and the wordy or awkward sentence the HSPT asks you to improve.
Composition
The paragraph-level questions in the Language section: topic sentences, sentence order, the sentence that does not belong, transitions, and choosing the best way to combine two sentences.